Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Sets New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock from $75.00 to $78.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Charles Schwab traded as high as $73.65 and last traded at $72.89, with a volume of 2672879 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $70.03.

SCHW has been the topic of a number of other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Charles Schwab from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $75.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Charles Schwab from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 16,390 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.94, for a total transaction of $1,047,976.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 61,331,688 shares in the company, valued at $3,921,548,130.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Charles Schwab news, insider Jonathan M. Craig sold 4,977 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.01, for a total transaction of $348,439.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 81,446 shares in the company, valued at $5,702,034.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 16,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.94, for a total transaction of $1,047,976.60. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 61,331,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,921,548,130.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 216,584 shares of company stock worth $14,200,769. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Providence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 60.0% in the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 1.8 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.62. The stock has a market cap of $126.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.04. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 26.90% and a return on equity of 21.33%. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is 39.37%.

About Charles Schwab

The Charles Schwab Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a savings and loan holding company that provides wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody, and financial advisory services in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Investor Services and Advisor Services.